Prevalence of Clostridium difficile in raw cow,sheep, and goat meat in Jazan,Saudi Arabia

Background:Clostridium difficile has been shown to be a nosocomial infection associated with diarrhoea and pseudomembranous colitis in hospitalized patients especially old patients. In my previous studies, it was shown the occurrence of C. difficile in animals feces and vegetables which may act as a source of infection to humans.The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of C. difficile in retail raw cow, sheep, and goat, meat in Jazan, Saudi Arabia.Method: A total of 600 raw meat samples from cow, sheep, and goat were collected during June–December 2015, and tested for the presence of C. difficile. The method used to check for the presence of C. difficile was by choosing selective enrichment media in C. difficile broth, followed by alcohol shock-treatment and plating onto C. difficile selective medium. C. difficile isolates were typed using PCR ribotyping and also analyzed for antibiotic susceptibility.Results: It was shown that, 9 of 600 meat samples (1.5%) were contaminated with C. difficile. The prevalence of C. difficile was as follow: 7 out of 600 (1.17%) were found in cow, 2 out of 600 (0.3%) were found in sheep, while was no C. difficile was isolated from goat. Eleven out of 18 C. difficile isolates were positive for tcdA, tcdB and cdtB toxin genes and were classified as ribotype 078. Three strains were positive tcdA, and tcdB, and two strains possessed only tcdB. C. difficile strains showed high resistance to ampicillin, gentamycin, erythromycin and nalidixic acid.Conclusions: The present work shows the potential risk of raw meet in transmitting C. difficile to humans.     

Prevalence and characterization of hydatidosis in Najdi sheep slaughtered in Riyadh city,Saudi Arabia

Hydatidosis is considered to be one of the important zoonotic diseases and has a significant public health importance due to the difficulties of the diagnosis. Domestic animals act as intermediate hosts and the main reservoir for the disease in humans. The main purpose of this work therefore was to determine the prevalence of hydatidosis in Najdi sheep slaughtered in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. Cyst location and cyst fertility and viability were also estimated, together with effect of seasons, age and sex on the prevalence of the infection. The prevalence of hydatidosis was evaluated by post-mortem examination, with intensive inspection of the visceral organs of 2785 Najdi sheep. The infection was found to prevail throughout the year in both sex, with an overall prevalence of 2.33%. The highest prevalence was recorded in winter (6.48%) while the lowest was encountered in summer (1.36%). Females were proved to be more prone to infection (70.7%) than males (29.3%). In the present study, younger sheep tended to have a higher prevalence of infection than older ones. The most commonly infected organ was the liver, with a prevalence of 81.5%. The recorded cysts showed a fertility rate of 75.4%, and a high viability rate of 61.2%. Hepatic cysts were the most fertile and viable ones (46%), while calcified cysts were not recorded during the study. Measurements of recorded cysts in all organs ranged from 2 to 6?cm in diameter.In conclusion, the high fertility and viability rate of the recorded cysts suggest that sheep are a potential source of hydatidosis transmission to dogs and the continuation of its life cycle in this region. Consequently, authorities are recommended to instigate stricter regulation of the slaughtering process, including the secure disposal of infected offal so as to minimise the transmission of cysts from slaughter houses, along with treatment of stray dogs.     

Environmental issues in relation to agricultural practices and attitudes of farmers: A case study from Saudi Arabia

PurposeThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is continuously in search of environment-friendly farming practices since mass-scale agriculture was initiated. It is imperative to gauge to the level of awareness of the farmers on the agricultural practices causing environmental issue in order to devise new agricultural extension programs. This research aims to identify the attitudes of farmers towards agriculture and environment in Al-Ghat area of Saudi Arabia.MethodologyA simple random sample of 110 farms truly representing the farming community was drawn to meet the objectives of the study. Data were collected by using the pre-tested questionnaire during the face-to-face interviews. In order to understand the message of study, data were analyzed for percentages, arithmetic average and standard deviation in addition to the simple Pearson correlation coefficient.ResultsThe results showed that the high proportion (87.3%) of farmers was interested in continuing to work farm and 77.3% of farmers did not consider adopting agriculture their main occupation. The findings of the survey reveal that some 55.5% of the respondent farmers were aware of the agricultural practices and their relation to the environment. Some 57.3% of the surveyed farmers are aware of potential benefits of enhanced utilization of agricultural organic wastes. However, main profession, farm employment (as the independent variables) showed a significant positive correlation with the attitudes of farmers towards their working in agriculture (as a dependent variable). Also a significant negative relationship between the educational levels and the attitudes of the farmers towards working in agriculture was noticed. The study also indicated a significant correlation between education and the degree of awareness of agricultural practices related to the environment and maximizing the optimum utilization of agricultural waste i.e. organic residues.ConclusionsThe study suggested the need for new awareness and orientation programs to educate farmers and extension workers, highlighting the environment- friendly agricultural practices.Recommendation: There is need to offer incentives and facilities to keep the farmers stay in the farming business. Extension staff must keep educating them on beneficial features of organic farm waste and crop residues as organic fertilizers.     

Water,land and carbon footprints of sheep and chicken meat produced in Tunisia under different farming systems

Meat production puts larger demands on water and land and results in larger greenhouse gas emissions than alternative forms of food. This study uses footprint indicators, the water, land and carbon footprint, to assess natural resources use and greenhouse gas emissions for sheep and chicken meat produced in Tunisia in different farming systems in the period 1996–2005. Tunisia is a water-scarce country with large areas of pasture for sheep production. Poultry production is relatively large and based on imported feed. The farming systems considered are: the industrial system for chicken, and the agro-pastoral system using cereal crop-residues, the agro-pastoral system using barley and the pastoral system using barley for sheep. Chicken meat has a smaller water footprint (6030 litre/kg), land footprint (9 m²/kg) and carbon footprint (3 CO₂-eq/kg) than sheep meat (with an average water footprint of 18900 litre/kg, land footprint of 57 m²/kg, and carbon footprint of 28 CO₂-eq/kg). For sheep meat, the agro-pastoral system using cereal crop-residues is the production system with smallest water and land footprints, but the highest carbon footprint. The pastoral system using barley has larger water and land footprints than the agro-pastoral system using barley, but comparable carbon footprint.     

多重实时荧光PCR检测牛、山羊和绵羊源性成分

根据牛、山羊和绵羊线粒体细胞色素b基因序列, 设计特异性引物和以不同荧光素标记的Taqman探针。通过对PCR反应体系和反应条件的优化筛选, 建立能同时鉴别牛、山羊和绵羊源性成分的多重实时荧光PCR方法。采用本文方法与国标GB/T 20190-2006方法分别对17种不同源性动物DNA和200份不同来源样品DNA进行牛羊源性成分检测, 数据显示两者检测结果符合率达100%, 特异性相当。与国标方法相比, 本试验方法不需电泳、酶切和测序, 即可在一个PCR反应中同时鉴别检测牛、山羊和绵羊3种源性成分, 检测效率提高近3倍; 灵敏度更高, 比国标方法灵敏10倍; 适用性更广, 除了饲料, 还适用于肉品、奶品、生皮和动物油脂等动物产品的牛羊源性成分检测。